


Not a Betting Matter

by EmeraldHeiress



Series: How Dangerous (A Mask Can Be) [20]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood: Lost Days
Genre: Family Drama, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Good Parent Talia al Ghul, Humor, Light Angst, Revelations, Sibling Bonding, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:54:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27867941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldHeiress/pseuds/EmeraldHeiress
Summary: Dick was confused.
Relationships: Alfred Pennyworth & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Alfred Pennyworth, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Talia al Ghul & Jason Todd
Series: How Dangerous (A Mask Can Be) [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1932781
Comments: 30
Kudos: 473





	Not a Betting Matter

**Author's Note:**

> Another imported blurb from tumblr.

They didn’t notice it at first. ****

Why would they?

There was no need to check on him every single night. He was old enough to get himself to bed and stay there. Mature enough to know the value of a good night’s sleep. 

They only checked on him when they needed to worry. When he had a nightmare. (When they did.) When he might sneak out at night. When he was hurt.

The first time Dick found them, he assumed it must have been an accident. A fluke.

All of them had had a rough night getting Joker back into his cage at Arkham. But Jason had had it the worst.

Dick couldn’t imagine what was going through his oldest little brother’s head.

The rogue had obviously had an agenda. Every one of his minions had been carrying crowbars. Red numbers flashed on all the walls; counting down to whatever the big showdown had been. The showdown they’d stopped. 

By the end of it, Jason had been savage. 

Dick wasn’t sure what had kept him to his promise not to kill. Even he could see the green leaking under the mask. Leaching into his movements and words. 

He wasn’t certain he’d show the same restraint.

He’d wanted to pull Robin from Hood’s side twenty times that night. Get him away from that acid Lazarus venom. But he didn’t. They needed him where he was at. 

When Alfred insisted that Jason stay at the manor tonight, his brother had only nodded

That alone told the first Robin how bad it must have been. Jason didn’t stay unless the world was ending. Unless he or someone else was hurt.

And now… Well, they must have both been _so tired_. 

Dick had gone to check on Damian. To reassure him that he was still there. That the Joker hadn’t gotten _another_ Robin. (A common nightmare they all shared.) When he wasn’t in his bed, he nearly panicked. 

_Of course_ , he went to Jason first. 

Jason who, no matter the barbs and taunts and hate, would _always_ protect a child. Jason, who constantly threw himself in front of Robin when there was danger. Who always, no matter how much he tried to pretend he wasn’t, was tuned into Robin’s commlink. 

Jason would go to the ends of the Earth to protect and save Robin.

Which was how he found them. 

It must have been an accident.

There’s no way, with the amount of vitriol between them, no matter the carefully hidden protection, that they would fall asleep in the same bed on purpose.

It was still _absolutely adorable_ and he needed pictures to prove that it happened.

This was going to explode in the morning. Fireworks. He needed to have popcorn ready.

He stepped out of the room and closed the door before sending the photos to Bruce.

But then -

Nothing came of it. There was no shouting. No avoiding each other. No embarrassed looks. If he hadn’t found them cuddled up with each other the night before he wouldn’t even have known it had happened.

 _Whatever_.

He framed one of the pictures. 

But then it happened _again_. 

Damian had nearly drowned in the bay; knocked off the pier by one of Dent’s men. For a split second Hood had frozen (torn between diving after him and beating the bastard bloody) before throwing his helmet to Batgirl and jumping in the water.

It was Jason that carried the boy to the Batmobile. Jason that drove him to the cave and feed him hot chocolate and wrapped him in warm blankets.

And it was Jason’s body heat he shared as he slept, still shivering ever-so-slightly. Again, Dick only found them after trying to check on Damian in his room.

Dick just didn’t understand.

“I don’t understand.” He voiced, baffled, staring into his coffee the next morning.

“What don’t you understand?” Alfred asked, placing a plate of pancakes next to him.

“Damian… and Jason. This is the second time I’ve found them sharing Jason’s bed after patrol.”

“ _Is that all?_ ” The older man drawled. 

“What do you mean?”

“Master Dick, Master Damian has been sleeping in Master Jason bed’s every time Master Jason has spent the night in the Manor.”

Dick blinked in surprise. “What? _Why?_ ”

“You’d have to ask them, I’m afraid.”

“How do you know that?”

The old butler arched a brow and Dick grinned sheepishly. Right. Alfred knew all. 

“What are we talking about?” Bruce asked wearily as he joined them.

“Damian sleeping in Jason’s bed.”

Bruce blinked slowly, “Again?”

Dick nodded, “Alfred says it happens whenever Jason stays over.”

Bruce looked thoughtful as he poured himself some coffee. 

Footsteps drew everyone’s eyes as the two they were talking about walked into the breakfast room. Dick’s eyes narrowed, watching. Paying attention in a way he never had before.

They stepped apart, moving to opposite ends of the table. Jason sitting diagonally from Bruce and Damian sliding in between Dick and his father. 

But… there was communication he hadn’t noticed before.

A flick of an eyebrow. A grimace. A glare across the table when Damian frowned at his orange juice. A cough and a finger tap. 

Holy shit. 

This whole time.

This _whole fucking time._

“ _You_ …” He couldn’t shake the awe in his voice. The _audacity_. It had been two years. Two _whole years_ since Damian had come to them. “You two knew each other. _Before_ Damian came to Gotham!”

Jason froze while drinking his tea, eyes wide as they darted from Dick to Bruce to Damian.

The boy choked on his orange juice. The orange juice that, through a series of minute facial expressions, Jason had _ordered the boy to drink._

“You two _hate_ each other!” Dick continued, bewildered.

Damian, airway now cleared, began to laugh. Genuinely. _Sincerely_.

Bruce just arched an eyebrow, too tired for this shit.

“ _I told you!_ ” Damian took a sip of his juice again. “I told you, ahki! _Grayson_ would be the one!”

“You can’t discount Cass. She keeps things to herself.” Jason grumbled, lowering his cup and glowering at the boy.

“Pay up!”

“I don’t have it with me.” 

“ _Liar!_ ”

“How do you expect me to keep it on me? You know the rule of the Manor.” Jason asked, rolling his eyes.

“You owe me, ahki!” Damian’s eyes glittered in triumph.

“You don’t _know_ that! We gotta check with Cass first.”

“You _owe_ me!” 

“What _exactly_ does Jason owe you. And _what for?_ ” Bruce asked, voice tired.

“We bet-” Dick knew, right then, the whole morning was ruined, “on who would be the first to realize that we don’t actually hate each other. It was a training exercise. I won. Jason owes me his best sword.”

Annoyed, Jason snapped, “I don’t owe you crap, habibi. Not until we clarify.”

“Training exercise… bet? _What?_ Who put you up to that?” Dick asked, afraid to know the answer.

“Mom.”

“Mother.”

“ _Mom?_ ” Bruce asked, incredulous, as he stared at his second eldest.

Jason flushed. He hadn’t meant to say that. “I didn’t say that.”

“Just _wait_ until I tell Mother you finally slipped in front of Father.” Damian gloated.

“You _keep your mouth shut_ , you little shit, or I’m not sharing the next batch of halvah!” Jason shot back.

“You wouldn’t!” The boy gasped, outraged. 

“ _Try me!_ ” Jason glared.

Bruce rubbed his temples at the two descended into the first bought of the truest sibling squabbles he’d ever seen out of either of them.

Alfred politely coughed.

Silence descended. 

Heads turned to their grandfather figure.

“I think you’ll find, young masters, that you didn’t fool me for a moment.”

“Oh, Alfie. You don’t count.” Jason chirped, “We all know that you know everything.”


End file.
